PENSION OFFICIAL: SECRET PLANS LEAKED TO UNION CHIEF

S.D. city board president says information from closed City Council session revealed

A leak from the City Council’s supposedly private closed session meetings gave secret negotiation game plans to a top union chief, according to a complaint from the head of the San Diego City Employees’ Retirement System.

“It is my belief that San Diego City Council closed session confidential information has been transmitted to interested parties who are not normally entitled to receive such information,” pension board President Herb Morgan wrote in a letter to City Attorney Jan Goldsmith dated Friday. “Specifically it appears information has been disclosed by elected officials or staff directly to union executives. This may put the City of San Diego at a substantial disadvantage in its negotiations and could have a substantial financial impact on the city.”

The closed session in question was held June 25, according to Morgan.

Leaking private information from a closed session can be a violation of California’s Ralph M. Brown Act, which governs government meetings.

Morgan copied his letter to District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis and U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy, saying he was not sure which prosecutor would enforce meetings law. Morgan claimed that somehow, Michael Zucchet, the general manager of the Municipal Employees Association and a former councilman, had access to information discussed in the June 25 meeting.

On a phone call with Zucchet, Morgan said in the letter, he was taken aback that Zucchet seemed to have knowledge of negotiation leeway that was discussed in the closed session.

“Having never met with Mr. Zucchet before, I was shocked when he began to share information with me about what had occurred in the closed session meeting of June 25,” Morgan said in the letter.

In a response to Morgan this week, Zucchet said any information he discussed with Morgan came from completely legitimate sources. Some was political speculation, and some came from a routine briefing of parties to negotiations by the city attorney.

“I want to emphasize that I do not believe there was anything inappropriate about Mr. Goldsmith’s or his deputy’s discussions with opposing counsel,” Zucchet said. “They were engaged in confidential, good-faith settlement discussions.”

Zucchet wrote to Morgan, “As for your … claim that I told you that I ‘was informed’ about the City Attorney’s settlement negotiation leeway, that is simply false.”

This is not the only recent closed-session controversy.

Mayor Bob Filner used his police detail to remove the No. 2 official in the City Attorney’s Office from the room on June 18, a move which the City Council president witnessed and called “wrong” and another council member described as “inexcusable behavior.” Filner accused that attorney of leaking information from closed-session meetings, an allegation the attorney denied.